CIG Approves Outline Business Case for New John Gray High School and the Repurposing of the Existing George Hicks Site

The Outline Business Case developed by KPMG for the new John Gray High School and for the Repurposing of the Existing School Site projects has been approved by Cayman Islands Government.
The projects take forward Government’s priority goal of creating “best education opportunities for all our children”.
The projects have now entered the procurement and design development stage, where consultants and contractors are being invited to prepare proposals for the development of the preferred school design.
A Request for Proposals is live on the Public Procurement Portal for a Multi-discipline Consultant team, who will be responsible for providing the design services.
A Request for Proposals is also live on the Public Procurement Portal for a Contract Administrator and Quantity Surveyor, who will be responsible for controlling the performance of the Design and Build Contractor to ensure completion on time and within budget.
A Request for Supplier Prequalification will be made available on the Public Procurement Portal soon for the prequalification of Design and Build Contractors.

The Cayman Islands Government has approved the Outline Business Case (OBC) developed by KPMG for the completion of the new John Gray High School (JGHS) campus, and is now inviting consultants and contractors to prepare proposals for the development of the preferred school design. The JGHS campus is one of three construction projects that will create a new Education Complex.

The three construction projects that will create the new Education Complex are:
Project A: Construction of the new John Gray High School (JGHS) campus.
Project B: Refurbishment of the existing George Hicks site (current JGHS) for the following users: Cayman Islands Further Education Centre (CIFEC), Department of Education Services (DES), Student Services, Corner Stones, Parenting and Pregnant Teens, and space for the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI) to expand.
Project C: Demolition of the existing CIFEC campus, construction of the new John Gray High School sports fields, and refurbishment of the old CIFEC hall for use as a hurricane shelter, indoor sports facility and community hall.

Education Minister, Hon. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, reiterated the message she gave at the recent Market Engagement day, stating that “the approval of this Outline Business Case shows that this Government is committed to completing the new John Gray High School and providing Cayman with a world-class education facility. However, it does not stop here; I have set the project management team the tough target of completing the school campus by Christmas 2020, and we will give them all the support they need to achieve this.”

Jonathan Matthews, Senior Project Manager for the Public Works Department’s Major Projects Office, provided some background on the OBC process. “With the overall objective being to improve school performance, whilst ensuring value for money, the KPMG team of design consultants developed the short-list of project options identified by the Steering Committee in the Strategic Outline case (SOC) and evaluated them to determine the optimum school design option for JGHS. The assessment concluded that the optimum design option is to complete the school by adding to the partially constructed buildings to make them into a two-story, interconnected departmental high school building.”

Mr. Matthews said that the KPMG team also worked with a group of Educational Consultants to review and improve the proposed curriculum model and time-table for JGHS. The outcome of this review was the development of an operational model for the school that not only reduced the size of the school, making it more comparable with other international jurisdictions, but also identified efficiencies in the deployment of teaching staff which will enable better collegiality and improvements in student and school performance.

The approval of the OBC also includes the recommendation that a Two-stage Design and Build procurement route be utilised and that Projects A and C are to be procured together under one contract – this being the full scope of the new John Gray High School.

In addition, each of the projects have a budget which contains an approved affordability range that cannot be exceeded. The affordability ranges for each of the projects includes fees and contingencies; however the budget for the projects will not be released at this time as a result of being in the process of tendering. The following are the list of substantial completion dates for each project:

Project A – New JGHS Campus:
Substantially Complete: March 2021
Project B – Repurposing George Hicks Site:
Substantially Complete: February 2022
Project C – New JGHS Sports Fields:
Substantially Complete: September 2022

The Major Projects Office is now seeking proposals, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, from teams of consultants to complete the design for the new school and to provide the required services for its construction. A Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Multi-Discipline Consultant team is currently available for download on the Cayman Islands Government (CIG) public procurement portal. An RFP for a Contract Administrator and Quantity Surveying services is also available. Then the Ministry will be advertising for General Contractors to prequalify as bidders on the Two-Stage Design and Build procurement route.

”The consultant team will work collaboratively with the appointed contractor between stages one and two of the procurement approach to fully develop a priced set of design and construction documents that will be presented to CIG for approval. If this ‘developed option’ still meets the project objectives, represents value for money and is within the affordability range, then it will be recommended to Government in a Final Business Case to approve the commencement of construction,” said Mr. Matthews.

Principal of JGHS, Mr. Jon Clark, is enthusiastic about the approval of the OBC, “Having been involved from the inception of the business case process, I know that this new design for John Gray High School is what the teachers and students want and need. I know this, because they have been involved throughout, and the consultants have listened. We are incredibly happy that Government has approved the OBC for the completion of the new JGHS. We can’t wait to step in to what will be a fantastic new learning environment and to continue to improve JGHS and the outcomes for our students.”

The OBC will be available for public download from Monday, 19 November 2018 at the following web address: www.education.gov.ky